The Democratic governor said Tuesday the tax cut bill cut doesn't prioritize or adequately protect education. He says families and businesses know that public education is the best economic development tool.

The tax cut measure gradually reduces Missouri's top individual income tax rate and phases in a new deduction for business income reported on personal tax returns.

Missouri's Republican-led Legislature overrode Nixon's veto of the bill. Supporters contend the tax cut will help the economy and keep Missouri competitive with other states that have enacted tax cuts.

SCHOOL FUNDING INCREASES AGREED ON BY MISSOURI LEGISLATORS

Missouri lawmakers have agreed on funding increases for public schools, colleges and universities for the upcoming year.

Public schools would get a $115 million increase on top of their current $3.1 billion in basic funding. But if revenues met Governor Jay Nixon's more optimistic projections, schools could get up to a $278 million increase.

Missouri's higher education institutions would get a $43 million increase to be distributed based on whether they have met performance goals. That would amount to an average of a 5 percent increase.

The chairmen of the House and Senate budget committees announced the funding levels Tuesday at the start of a conference committee to resolve differences in the two chambers' budgets. There were no public negotiations among lawmakers.

LEGISLATORS FACING DEADLINE TO PASS BUDGET

The state Senate's budget chief says there are no plans to revise Missouri's financial projections despite a recent decline in tax revenues.

House and Senate negotiators were to begin work Tuesday on a final version of Missouri's more than $26 billion budget for the fiscal year starting July 1. They expect to get it done before Friday's constitutional deadline for passing a budget.

Missouri's revenues fell 5 percent in April compared with the same month in 2013 and are up just 0.5 percent through the first 10 months of the 2014 fiscal year.